
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 1, 1995                   TAG: 9503010060
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SUPREME COURT

IF PATIENCE is a valued part of judicial temperament, Judge Lawrence L. Koontz Jr. of Salem has shown he has the right stuff.

Koontz was considered a shoo-in for the Virginia Supreme Court in 1987, only to see the opportunity lost as a result of coin-tossing high jinks and back-room spats among the Roanoke area's Democratic legislators. He was endorsed by the Virginia State Bar the following year, only to be passed over by then-Gov. Gerald Baliles, who wanted to appoint the first woman to the state's high court.

But Koontz was twice a candidate for the Circuit Court before making it to that bench in the 1970s. And, doubtless, his patience has been honed by service as chief judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals. Born in legislative conflict in the mid-'80s, the appeals court has won respect from lawyers, prosecutors and judges in no small part because of the administrative and judicial qualities Koontz brought to it.

Not just patience, but fortitude, compassion, fairness and solid reasoning. These and other attributes have been cited in describing Lawrence ``Buster'' Koontz since 1967 when, at age 27, he became a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge here, the Roanoke area's youngest-ever judge and one of the youngest in the state. The courthouse crowd was predicting then that he might go all the way to Virginia's Supreme Court.

Last week, Koontz got the General Assembly's nod to go all the way. Endorsed by six state bar associations and by several local bar associations from Fairfax to Wythe County, the Roanoke native will become Supreme Court Justice Koontz in June. His election by legislators was an affirmation of his distinguished qualifications, and a good judgment call.

The Supreme Court, of course, is not a representative body. Its members aren't meant to wear the mantle or look after the interests of particular regions. Still, Koontz will be the high court's only justice from Southwest Virginia - and the first elected from the Roanoke Valley - since the late Herbert Gregory in 1930. We take pride in sharing Koontz with the rest of the state.

by CNB